I recently had an experience with an outfitter in Spain that had donated a discounted Fallow Deer hunt to an SCI chapter in Florida. I traded a Deer hunt to the buyer of the hunt because of his work schedule, he could not take the hunt. All correspondence was fine and the hunt was to be 3 days hunting, Lodging, Food, and Airport pickup and return in Madrid. At the last moment, after they received payment, the Fallow hunt was fully booked and no airport pickup, no lodging or food,
and basically a cull hunt. The catch was that if I wanted to upgrade the hunt to a Mouflan or Red Deer for $3500 extra then the Airpot pickup and return, Lodging, and Food were available.

This really leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I was wondering if this is standard practice on these SXCI discounted hunts? I had heard really good things about this outfitter and his operation and am really surprised at the way this has turned out. The PH is Alfonso Fabres, has anyone had any experience with him?

Hawkeye47

Hawkeye,

This would piss me off too. I would, with NO hesitation, take it up with SCI as there was clearly some double dealing here. The hunt was clearly going to take place and no last minute "oh sorry we are booked up but you can upgrade for X dollars" bullshit should have happened. I am quite surprised as I have, myself looked at dealing with this gentleman in Spain and he seems to run a first class operation.

Best of Luck,

JohnTheGreek

Hawkeye,

You need to take this up with your local Chapter first, NOT SCI headquarters.

I have put together or helped put together several Chapter fundraisers, and I can assure you that unless the details are fully laid out on the Donor Form, you are at the mercy of the outfitter.

The form I used asked whether the hunt was for trophy or representative animals, how many days' hunting was included, whether trophy fees were included, details on seasons, food, lodging, transport, non-hunting companions, permits, licenses, cancellation/deferral policies, you name it.

Were you given any details of the hunt donation by the person who swapped it to you, or did you go by what they told you? Someone has a copy of the original letter offering the hunt donation. Get it, and see what it entailed.

George

I forwarded a link to this thread to Alfonso Fabres and suggested that he may want to respond to these allegations.

Holly and I, and two friends of ours, are booked with Alfonso in September for the same SCI Chapter Fallow deer donation hunt, so I have an interest in seeing this matter resolved as well.

Until we hear from Alfonso, I will say in his defense that we have had a very satisfactory and professional exchange of e-mails regarding this donated hunt and upgrades to include additional animals.

I bought the donated hunt two years ago at our Chapter Fundraiser, and Alfonso kindly agreed to allow us to roll it over until this year.

We met with Alfonso's son, Alfonso, Jr., during the SCI Convention in Reno to finalize the details of the hunt. We discussed the details of the donated hunt and the upgrades and left the meeting confident that we could look forward to a great trip with no surprises.

All of our contacts with Alfonso, his son and staff have been courteous and professional. I hope and expect that there has been a misunderstanding that will be amicably resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

[ 04-02-2003, 21:43: Message edited by: Mark in SC ]

MarkinSC,

Thanks for the post. I will only be in Spain for the first part of November and did not discuss changing the hunt to another time because I am hunting there for Ibex with another outfitter. They offered hunts in Dec. Jan. & Feb. but it would require another flight to Spain. If they didn't have any dates open in Nov. all they had to do was say so. Why would they have openings for the upgrades in Nov. and no openings for the other hunt?

As to your local chapter, most local chapters say the contract is between the buyer and the outfitter. Our local chapter and long with many other chapters got stung by a canadian on Caribu hunts. I can't lay my hands on his name now, but as I understand it he got US citizens for about $500,000 over about a three year span. The RCMP and FBI are after him now.

UPDATE
I received an e-mail from Alfonso Fabres Jr. this morning telling me basically that I had wasted his valuable time and that I could come to Spain when they said I could or F.O.

From the first e-mail I sent to them I told them this hunt would haft to be the first of Nov. while I was in Spain, either before my Ibex hunt or right after. How hard is that to understand?
Also I can't understand how they had room for me if I upgraded the hunt to Red Deer or Mouflan and gave them $2500, all of a sudden they had plenty of room and could pick me up at the Airport.

The original e-mail I received was they would pick me up at the Airport & return me,Lodging and food, and a Trophy Fallow hunt. Then later the only thing I could do was rent a motel, furnish my own food and transportation, and they would farm me out to a local guide for a three day hunt. This is bullsh$$, any way you look at it.
In their defense I dealt with an assistant most of the time, but if they hired him to speak for them they should stand behind what he says.

Hawkeye47, I'm surprised and disappointed by your description of Alfonso's response. It seems unlikely that an outfitter of Alfonso's reputation would take such an aggressive and inflexible position with a prospective client, especially if you have already paid a deposit on the hunt.

As GeorgeS suggested, perhaps you should request a copy of the original Chapter donation document (which should have been given to the successful bidder after the auction) and check the details.

You might consider having an officer of the SCI Chapter that auctioned the hunt act as a mediator and try to resolve the problem.

MarkinSC,

I would be happy to forward copies of the e-mail that I received from Spain and Raul Quesada in Florida concerning this hunt. As I stated before they knew from day one that I would be in Spain in early November and all they had to do was say they didn't have an opening. It seems to me they were interested in the upgrade for $2500. I just received an e-mail from Raul Quesada this afternoon saying how sorry he was that this turned out bad and that he would furnish a stand by ticket for one of the later hunts, but I explained to him that now they say they won't pick me up at the airport. I have hunted all over the World and have never experienced this anywhere except in Russia.

Hawkeye47, who is Raul Quesada and what does he have to do with Alfonso Fabres?

Mark,

Raul Quesada is the SCI member that bought the hunt. His work schedule wouldn't permitt him to
get off to make the hunt so he traded it to me.
As I stated previously he had them contact Alfonso Fabres and tell them I wanted to take the hunt in early Nov. After a couple e-mails Alfonso Fabres's assistant(Lucia Lopez) said send the money and they would transfer the hunt to me. After Raul sent the payment they suddenly were booked for my time slot but if I wanted to send $2500 they had Mouflan or Red Deer updates for Nov. or I could rent a room in Salamanca, furnish myown transportation from Madrid and they would send me hunting with a local guy on some area. I still can't understand how they could make room for the upgraded hunt, but had no room for the original Fallow hunt we bought. It stinks any way you look at it. As I stated before I have e-mail to prove what I say.

Hawkeye
I hunted with Alfonso about five years ago. My hunt was for stags, fallow, Ibex and boars. Your comments brought back some memories. My hunt started with some poor communications and had to be re negotiated. After I arrived everything pretty much went off as planned and I had a very memorable hunt. He has a beautiful facility and some good hunting in the European tradition.I ended up liking Alfonso and am surprised at his actions-maybe the answer is in the documents.
All The Best Nech

Nech,

Thanks for your post. I'm sure that there are things about this Fallow hunt that I should have done diffrent. First off I didn't buy the hunt at the SCI sale, secondly I dealt mostly with a representative of Mr. Fabres. That said, what really ticks me off is that they knew from day one that I would only be able to hunt in the first two weeks of November. I explained this in my first e-mail to them. After they received payment, all of a sudden they had no openings, but if I sent them another $2500 they had openings for Red Stag or Mouflan. If they didn't have an opening I guess another $2500 would make one appear. I will hunt Ibex with another chap and forget the Fallow.

Hawkeye
Sorry, forgot to wish you well in Spain. I had never visited there prior to my hunt and I had a great time. Rural Spaniards love to eat and enjoy themselves. Spanish Mountain towns are wonderful and the hunting is generally pretty good. There seems to be a strong hunting culture in Spain. Enjoy!!
All the Best Nech

Nech,

Thanks for the well wishes! I'm sure that the hunt in Spain will be one I will cherrish. I'm hosting my PH. from Spain and his friend from Russia on a trophy Whitetail hunt at my Ranch after the Ibex hunt in Spain. Good hunting to you.